RV Date: 08.15.21 Blues in Maine!!!!

They've got Blues in Maine. Real honest soul-wrenching blues, that pull you into the song. I couldn't believe it!!!!!!

We are in Dixfield ME now, so first I've got to catch you up on a couple of things. It might take a while, but I got Tom Petty on telling some stories and a good Root Beer to sip on while I type.

When last we spoke, we had just finished the mountain top Road in Vermont. Beautiful place but they could spend some money making the roads a little wider, at least a shoulder. We have been traveling basically East on US 2 and stopped at Jefferson NH. It was nestled next to Mount Washington, which is the highest point of NH. We rode a Cog train to the top of the mountain. There was an auto road also, but it was nice to sit and watch the scenery pass by without worrying about gravity sucking hairpin corners. I think my truck appreciated a day off too. Anyways, regular train tracks plus a center track with detents for the trains clog to grab on as the engine pushes everyone in a straight shot up the mountain. Go Diesel!!! There was a gentleman conductor who called out the points of interest as we traveled including a history of the Cog rail system. He even gave us a warning about seeing a rising moon. Seems there is a tradition for the hikers who climb the mountain to then shoot the moon over the mountain! Hey why not...... Our ride continued on for a few minutes with the Presidential Mountain peaks and valley's coming into and out of view and then you could start to see groups of hikers. They were converging on the peak from various trails that snake around the mountain on their way up, up, up. The clouds were starting to close in on us as we rose into their wetness just before the top. Mr. Conductor: "Ope, ope look to the left people if you want to get a glimpse of the moon rising on the mountain" Of course everybody immediately jerked their head to the left rising in their seats. A small ridge was coming into view on the left from the front of the car, and there were 3 hikers waiting for the rubes to drive past. It looked like 3 girls, although I could only see 2 clearly. One of the girls had her back to the train while another was urging her on. A reach for the shorts, and then a hesitation, the friend urged her on and the hands pulled on the shorts. At this point my sight was blocked by the bottom window edge and the young guys blocking the window. Terri had been standing up and said the girl had indeed shot the moon. Mr Conductor: "Well, how about that folks!" he coughs a couple of times and clears his throat, looking a little flushed "I warned you it might happen, but, it's not usually a young girl like that. Mostly it's middle aged men. Dang" The top of the mountain was indeed in the clouds. Visibility was about 20 ft with a steady wind blowing at about 30 knotts. Like a heavy fog day in Michigan when the wind is whipping over Lake Michigan. There was a multi purpose building at the summit. Museum, first aid, hiker prep area, rest rooms, gift shop and a snack and drink section. There was also a US Post Office. So we sent some post cards to our Grandkids from the top of Mount Washington.

We didn't do much else in NH other than go to an outlet shopping area. We also went Moose hunting one evening. Terri was so excited to see a moose and our oldest grandson was continuously asking if we had seen a moose yet. So in the truck and off we go roaming the roads. Hell, there were Moose Crossing signs everywhere!! We found some back roads were we could drive slow and even some gravel roads with few structures and cleared out patches of timber. We saw some nice houses on the slopes but no moose's (or is it meese"s?) On we go looking for water, after all it was hot and aren't all the pictures of moose with them next to or in water? Several more miles of driving and looking at the beautiful scenery with my sweetie pie made for a perfect evening. No moose though, so we headed back to the camper. A mile from the campground I looked down in the ditch and yelled "MOOSE" "Get your camera Terri" There was a mother and a mooseling browsing on the brush. They stayed where they were and Terri got several pictures and a video I think.

We are now in Maine, although I did take a day trip to Mexico today!!. If you get out your Rand McNally, or like I have, the Walmart version, you can follow our progress along US 2, from Jefferson VT, to Dixfield, Maine just past Rumford. Small towns around include Mexico and Peru. It has been hot lately, or rainy, but mostly hot. And it was a scorcher when we pulled into our new campground. We were going to be parking in an open field and it was like the mid ninety's out, fierce sun beating down on us and baking us in the converted hay field. Well, life goes on..... We were just about complete with our setup when we got neighbors. They were locals, Tim and Carol, and they started to set up also. Tim and I got to talking and he was super excited about a Blues festival that was to take place the next day at the Campground! He was totally pumped about it and so was his wife Carol. I told him I loved the Blues and never would have thought they would have blues music in Maine. By now Terri, who was on the way to the pool to cool off, stopped by and got talking and had to tell them our life history and how long we lived in the Memphis area, and the Blues bar's we liked to go to and the music and we were all pumped. Since I was burning up, I jumped in the trailer to change to light weight shorts and shirt, did I tell you it was a 100+? Anyway I was hot and changed and cooled off for a minute. Went back outside to get my phone from the truck and heard our new neighbors while they were setting up. It sounded like there was a problem at the shared utility pole so I wandered that way. Tim was having difficulties and asked if I would help. Sure, be right there. A long story short, Tim had had too much sun and I believe he was having a heat stroke. Shortly, Carol got Terri from the pool and she did her wonderful nurse thing. The ambulance came and took Tim away. He is alright now, Sunday, but had a time of it for a day or two. And, he missed the Blues concert. Sorry, Tim - It was great and it is shame you missed it. Terri brought Carol to the hospital and I set up the camper for them while they were gone. Some of their good friends came to meet them at the hospital, Randy and Julie, and came out to the campground with Carol and Terri. About then another trailer had pulled in who were friends with the other 2 couples and had also came out for the Blues festival. Of course everyone was rightly concerned about Tim and hugging Carol and offering to do anything she needed, It was a nice sight to see, so many people concerned about somebody and what they could do to help, like a close family, gathering together to protect each other. Joey, the new neighbor and Randy came over to thank us for what we did for their buddies. "your welcome" we said. You know, sometimes it is hard to express a simple your welcome. People should act nice to each other and offer help when they can. "Your welcome" doesn't seem to cover it, but what it really means for me is, that's the way it should be, and I would hope that you would do it for me if I needed.

We all got talking about the Blues and went over to Joey's and his wife Melinda's trailer for awhile. They had 2 grandkids with them and the kids parents were also there visiting. By now too many names are being tossed around for my head to keep up with, although Terri probably has them all down pat. They were mentioning the band names for the next day and the names of various performers in them. I didn't recognize any of them, but that don't mean anything. We heard about the Blues concert tours that go on through the North East and how they would travel to them when they could. It seems that The Rona had shut down all the scheduled dates last year and man they had the blues to hear some Blues. They were excited and it got me all excited because Blues is my favorite music style. However,.............Homer popped up in my head saying "Dopppeee....Remember the BBQ." So I tamped down my excitement a bit and since the mosquitoes were coming out, we said our good nights and went home.

The next morning started with an early thunderstorm which cut the heat that was already building up by 8 am. A few cars were beginning to arrive and people were coming out of their campers You could see the excitement in the way they walked and said good morning to each other, a feeling of good humor was building as the new arrivals made their way to various campers and hugs and handshakes were shared. I could feel the sentiment of "It's about time" and "Thank gawd life is coming back to normal" We had heard from Carol and Randy that Tim was a bit better, not out of the woods, but, showing improvement and that they would be out to the campground soon. I went to tell Joey and Melinda the good news and there was a couple of other friends at their camper, music was on and the grill was loaded with burgers and hotdogs. Everyone was excited about Tim's progress and introductions were made that I couldn't keep up with. Again, they tried thanking Terri and I for our help with their friends, but, I could only reply "It's ok, that it was the right thing to do. The guy grilling (yep, I already lost the name) asked if I wanted something to eat and I said sure a hot dog would be great but I would be right back. I had to go buy our tickets before they were sold out. The event was being held in a large building on site with a metal roof. By now there were quite a number of people milling around, gathering in little groups outside the building. As I approached you could see and hear the excitement and animation going on within the groups. Occasionally, someone would peel off one group and make it a few feet before being sucked into another group like a spare electron breaking free of it's covalent bonding orbit and being pulled in by a larger magnetic force. Outside the building, pavilions were growing from the ground with assorted drinks, snacks, grilling meat and doodads of various kinds. There was even a fortune teller, but, I stayed away because I would rather experience life as it happens. I paid for our tickets which was a blue Sharpie cross on the back of my hand and went to get Terri so that she could be appropriately marked. Terri got the go ahead about bringing a cooler so we went back to pack one and grab some lawn chairs. Then I had to go get my hotdog and we visited for a while and could hear the first group tuning their instruments.

The early morning storm had passed by, but the clouds left behind were full, looking juicy and ready to let loose on the gathering masses below. We decided it was time to get inside before the rain, and almost made it in before the first rain drops fell. The initial sprinkles were replaced by a straight down downpour that seemed intent on washing the grass away from the dirt. It was pouring! People came running inside with rain streaming off their clothes and bare legs, leaving large puddles behind if they stopped for a moment. And it was loud. The force of the rain hitting the metal roof echoed through the entire building, people were laughing and talking, and the first band started up. Like I said, the drumming on the roof was bad. The underside of the roof was bare except for the wooden rafters every few feet used to support the steel. This caused the sounds to get trapped into the cavities and echo out to us in a chaotic mixture of notes, thundering rainfall and voices babbling. I could hear it all but not separate it into it's component pieces; just a loud mix of various noise. Not the perfect acoustical setting. Homer started running around in circles in my mind "Too much noise, I can't hear the Blues" and Bart was laughing at him.

The event: Mountain Valley Stomp https://mountainvalleystomp.rocks

Performers in order of playing: JC and the Aces; Johnny Costa Rica; Black Cat Road/LC Williams and the Driver Mash Up; and Bonnie Edwards and the Practical Cats

Proceeds after cost were being donated to: River Valley Animal Advocates

The first group began during the torrential rain. Unfortunately, I was not able to appreciate the quality of their music due to the jumbled noise. The sound guy tried to compensate for the loudness of the rain, but it didn't work, and basically overdrove the sound on one side of resulting on the lead guitar and singer overdriving the accompaniment from the rest of the group. It was a shame and Homer popped up "Jeeze, told you it would be like the BBQ...Oh man" Towards the end of their set they brought up a singer from the audience that sang a song and she was great. By now the rain had started to slack off and the music was beginning to emerge in from the background noise. The next group came on and did some initial sound testing and adjustments with the sound guy. The rain and its noise had stopped and then this guy let loose with a harmonica rift that sucked me in. This Dude could play the harmonica!! He could play and sing and pumped up the band and crowd!! I was really getting into the music now, and while not Memphis blues, it was certainly very good. Towards the end the lead guitarist took the lead with a Buddy Giles song and I was hooked. "See Homer" I said "You just have to have a little faith" He was spinning around on the floor with a case of Duffs next to him playing bongos on his belly. Throughout the set adjustments were made with sound to fit the environment and the music was excellent.

I was not prepared for the next group. The lady who sang the song with the first group, Jessica Hines, got on stage with a washboard hanging from her neck. Lead guitarist and singer, Bass guitarist and singer, Drummer and Keyboardist all merged together to play some of the best sounding Blues that I have ever heard. Jessica's voice was amazingly powerful as she wailed out song after song while scratching on the washboard. Lead guitar and Bass guitar taking their turns playing and singing and capturing the crowd with a rock solid drummer and keyboardist. This group is as good as any that I have seen while wandering around the clubs on Beele Street in Memphis. Soul wrenching melodies that were sometimes mournful and soft, and then fast and energized, grabbed you and pulled you in to hear the stories. LOVED IT!!

The final group sang songs that Terri seemed to really love and remember. Excellent lead vocalist, more of the big band sound to me than the Blues style I love the most, but great nonetheless. Jessica joined them on one song also lending her powerful voice. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the day and the wonderful music. Who knew, honest to goodness Blues in the mountains of Maine!

We bought a CD of Black Cat Road titled The Baddest Apple.. I can not wait to listen to it with a set of headsets to experience it with the acoustical perfection that a sound set should provide. I'm going to pop in a very short video I tried to take so you can hear and see, but apologize in advance for my poor workmanship. Hope I'm not violating any restrictions....

Today we helped Carol get her trailer back home and heard that Tim is doing much better, although being held for another day of observation, however he was out of ICU! Heat can kill people so don't forget to drink your water and find shade.

We have not explored the area yet other than a trip to Walmart and TSC, so today (Yep its Monday now, couldn't finish last night) we will get out and do some site seeing. Tomorrow we are on the road again traveling further on US 2 through Bangor and then to Ellsworth will we will stay for a few days exploring costal Maine. With a side trip to Bangor so I can see the inspiration to all of the Steven King stories!!! From there we will head up north to Houlton ME on the border with Canada. From there we will wander around the upper parts of Maine looking for new adventures.

Somewhere along the line I will get a chance to catch you up on all the cool things and adventures that I found as I wander around with Terri the Gipsy Queen and the Killer Chihuahuas...

Enjoy yourself and your time with others........

P.S. Tim is home from the hospital :)

P.S.S. I botched the video :{